


Egyptain Steve fanfic

by Dlg



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action, Angst, Avengers - Freeform, Bad Fight scenes, Bad at tagging, Eventual Romance, Eventual relationship, F/M, I'll add more as I go, Slow Burn, Violence, long story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 06:04:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7422838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dlg/pseuds/Dlg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve is called in to help SHIELD to retrieve the Tesseract. Fury also gets him to recruit the help of a woman who might be the only on who can emphasis with having to leave old friends behind.</p><p>Will also be posting on Quotev soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. recruiting

It was not long past midnight, in the middle of the almost empty, musty gym a single light  brown– haired man was punching a bag, his breathing getting faster, his punches harder and fiercer; a mix of emotions becoming more and more evident on his face, painful memories from the war flashing through his head. A few seconds later his fist slammed into the punching bag and it flew across the room, hitting the wall with force. Sand spilled quickly from a split in the bag. For a few seconds he stared at where the bag used to be, his breathing becoming calmer; then he went over to where six more punching bags in a line on the floor, bent down picked up the closest one and hung it up. After a few seconds he started punching the bag, putting more and more force into each punch. The cycle starting again.  
  
“Trouble sleeping” A voice commented from his far right. It belonged to a man he had talked to before; Director Fury of SHEILD, dressed in a completely black suit. The brown-haired man stopped and looked up at the Director, then continued punching.  “I slept for seventy years, sir, I’ve think had my fill” he said.  
Walking closer the Director said “Then you should be out celebrating, seeing the world” This made the man look up and walk over to his bag, Fury following;  swiftly unwrapping the cloth from his hand. “When I went under the world was at war, when I wake up they say we won; they didn’t say what we lost” He put the sweaty strip of cloth into his bag and repeated the process with the other hand. “We’ve made some mistakes along the way, some very recently” The Director admitted.“You here with a mission, sir?” The man asked.         
“I am” The Director replied.      
“You trying to get me back in the world?” The man inquired             
“Trying to save it” The Director corrected, handing the man one of the two manila folders he was holding. The man opened the file and looked at the pages of information on the Tesseract “Hydra’s secret weapon” He murmured softly.  “Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you; he thought what we think the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited, sustainable energy, that’s something the world sorely needs” The Director explained.  
  
The man closed the file and handed it back “Who took it from you?” The man asked.      
“He’s called Loki” The Director answered “He’s not from around here. There’s a lot we’ll need to bring you up to speed on if you’re in. The world has gotten even stranger then you already know” The Director added.      
“At this point  I doubt anything would surprise me” The man replied, standing up and grabbing his bag.   
“Ten bucks says your wrong” The Director said. “If you wouldn’t mind having a look at this file as well, I think you will find it interesting” The Director suggested after a few seconds pause. The man hesitated before walking back to the Director and grabbing the thin folder that the Director held out, wordlessly he looked through it. The file contained info on a woman that looked to be about eighteen years old but was thought to be a lot older.  
  
There were photos of the woman with her hair various colors from chocolate brown to black and from shoulder-length to her waist. The only things that stayed constant was her skin colour, which was a dark Carmel colour and her dark hazel eyes. In the most recent photo her hair was almost waist length and almost black. She looked to be following the laws and seemed to a perfect citizen, which made him wonder why Director had a file on her. Her current address wasn’t that far from his apartment. “Why did you want me to look at this file?” The man asked, curious about the woman, whose name, according to the file, was Nala Hazlewood. “We would like to have a talk with Miss Hazlewood, but she is difficult to track down and she doesn’t like talking to our agents” The Director told the man simply.       
“And  what do you want me to talk to her about?” The man asked, confused as to why the Director wanted him to talk to this woman if his agents couldn't. “About her joining SHIELD, we think she could help us retrieve the Tesseract” The Director replied simply. “Okay, I’ll talk to her” The man concedes, handing the file back.  
  
Then he walked over to the group of punching bags, lying on the ground and picked one up.  “There’s a debrief package waiting for you back at your apartment” The Director told the man who was walking away. “Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now” The Director inquired as the man was just about to exit the room “You should have left it in the ocean” Was the man’s only answer as he walked out.  
  
Steve Rodgers had been slowly coming to terms with the fact that he had been asleep for so long and that the world had changed so much. He had found that working out helped. Steve went back to his apartment, found the debrief package on his table in the kitchen. He looked at the files of his old friends that he had been given when he had first woken up, most of them dead. He looked at the newer files of Howard’s son and a run down of what happened at the Loki attack. There was another, more detailed file on Nala Hazlewood; other alias, her previous residences, universities she went to, courses she studied, places she traveled. According to the file SHIELD suspected that Nala Hazlewood was a nurse in World War II under one of her alias. The last page said that a SHIELD agent would be waiting for him outside his apartment, in the morning to take him to Nala Hazlewood’s apartment. Steve began packing stuff into a bag, toothbrush and a change of clothes.  
  
Then he went to bed to sleep for a few hours, before a knock at the door woke him up. Steve opened the door to see a serious looking man in his late thirties with a receding hairline. “I’m Agent Coulson, I’m here to transport you to Ms. Hazlewood’s apartment and then to the Helicarrier” The man said. Steve nodded, going to get his bags before following the man- Agent Coulson- out the door and into the awaiting car there was another man, who looked to be around twenty five. Agent Coulson introduced the agent as Agent Brown. It only took a while to arrive at their destination. The men got out of the car, Coulson taking a briefcase and walked up to Nala Hazlewood’s apartment. The door was locked but Agent Coulson simply pulled out a key from his coat pocket and unlocked it. They all walked in after a minute’s hesitation, listening for any signs of life but the only sound was the sound of a shower running. Steve was uncomfortable with the fact that they were in a lady's apartment without her permission, or even knowledge, and more so when he realized that the woman in question was most likely in the shower; and so at a considerable disadvantage.  
  
The younger agent went in first, then Steve and Coulson bringing up the rear. Steve noticed that Agent Brown was looking around the apartment which was pretty minimal; the walls a plain beige, the floor was old, scratched floorboards with a old white table in the middle of the room next to two old grey couches, there were no pictures on the walls or anything to suggest she had any friends or family.  The only thing that indicated anything about her personality was the black and gold cat statue that was sitting on the kitchen shelf and a couple of pot plants next to it. There was a noise behind them and as Steve was just about to turn around when an arm struck the young agent, disarming him of a gun that Steve didn’t even know he pulled. The arm belonged to a woman in a black shirt and black jeans, her hair looked wet, like as if she had just come out of the shower. Steve thought it safe to assume that this woman was Nala Halzewood; she bore a strong resemblance to the woman in the photo, dark skin, dark eyes, and long dark hair.  
  
In the time it took Steve to process this; the woman had grabbed Agent Brown’s arm, twisted it behind his back and forced him to his knees. “What are you doing here? What do you want?” The woman asked abruptly, her eyes flicking from Coulson to Steve. Coulson took a step forward “We just want to talk, Ms Halzewood” He said, his voice cool and professional. The woman let go of Agent Brown and took a step back “Fine but I want him out of my apartment by the time I get back; I refuse to talk to people under 25, they make too many stupid mistakes in this generation” She said coldly, then turned around and walked through an open doorway. Steve thought it strange that she had not asked for his removal either, he knew that he appeared to be in his early twenties like the younger agent. Agent Brown got up and retrieved his gun from the floor. Coulson regarded the young agent severely before ordering him to leave, the agent silently complied, slamming the door behind him. After a couple of minutes the woman came out in a slim fitting, black sweater and black jeans. While Steve knew that women in this period wore this type of clothing, and worse, he still tried to avoid looking at the woman's legs. He didn't think he would get used to this century.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this short, it's sort of a prologue and from Steve's perspective, sorta. I didn't want to go too much further with this chapter otherwise the others probably wouldn't be interesting. So what did you think of it, I don't know if I got Steve right. Also I need a better title for this, if anyone has any suggestions please comment.


	2. SHIELD

I was washing the conditioner out of my hair, when I heard a quiet noise and a click. I froze, listening for other clues to the origin of the sounds. I could hear muffled footsteps, it sounded close by and I realized that someone was in my apartment. I slowly turned the water off and slipped quietly into my bedroom and pulled out a shirt and sweats. Now dressed I walked quietly out into the living room and saw three men; two were obviously government agents with their professional suits and guns, and the other man stood like a soldier but was dressed in civilian clothes; I couldn’t figure out why a soldier would be working with government agents, they usually used their own people to take care of things. The significantly older agent had a briefcase with him.  
I continued to study them as I quietly crept closer, deciding which one to attack first: then the younger agent who couldn’t be over 25 made my decision for me by drawing his gun and aiming at me. I sprung into action, disarming him and twisting his arm behind his back, pushing the agent roughly to his knees.          
   
“What are you doing here? What do you want?” I demanded, glancing at the older agent and then the soldier man. There was something different about him, he looked about 20 but there was something about his demeanor that made him seem older and his clothes looked they were from another time period; and for some reason he seemed familiar. The older agent stepped forward. “We just want to talk Ms Halzewood” The agent said calmly. I let go of the agent and took a step back, if he or one of the others posed a risk later I could always incapacitate them  “Fine, but I want him out of my apartment by the time I get back; I refuse to talk to people under 25, they make too many stupid mistakes in this generation” The strange, non- S.H.E.I.L.D agent man seemed intelligent enough not to make stupid mistakes.  I turned around and went back into my bedroom to change into warmer clothes. When I came back the younger agent was gone, good, I hate having to deal with idiots.  
  
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” I asked sharply as I walked into my kitchen and poured myself a cup of milk. I went back into the lounge room where the remaining agent and the soldier were standing. The older agent had opened his briefcase and I glimpsed the insignia. It was one I had seen before, was SHIELD’s. When were they going to understand that I wasn’t going to work with them  “Haven’t I told you before that I don’t work for governments?” I snapped angrily. The SHIELD agent  didn't react, just took a stack of pieces of paper out of his briefcase, placing them on my old table. “This is a little more serious” He said, sliding the paper across the table so I could see.  What have the idiots done now, I thought. There was a picture of a blue glowing cube called the ‘Tessearct’ above a quick debrief of how it was stolen from secure facility by a man, who according to a trusted source was the Asgardian Norse god of mischief, Loki. Along with the debrief there was a description of what the Tesseract could do and what a splinter group of the Nazi’s called Hydra did it with during World War Two. At the bottom of the page was number of casualties and the damages caused, both during the war and when Loki stole the Tessearct from the facility, which I assumed had been one of SHIELD. After reading the information I realized how much destruction Loki could cause if he was allowed to stay in possession of the cube. I knew that it wouldn’t be easy stopping him.                                                                                                 

“Okay, I’ll help but it’s for this, it’s not going to be permanent; I'm not signing any contacts.  I’ll go pack”I said finally after deliberation. I emptied my glass and put it in the sink. Then I went into my room, grabbing a duffel bag that held my weapons and another one that I filled with a couple changes of clothes like  jeans, shirts, sweaters, and some underwear, a  toothbrush, a hair brush and hairbands. Then I grabbed my gold jewelry box and took out my ankh necklace, slipping it over my head, tucking it under my sweater before walking over to the one painting in the apartment and removing it to reveal a cavity that I had made to hide more weapons, my battle clothes  from when the world was younger- though admittedly harsher as well- and my first aid kit. I put the extra weapons in the other duffel bag, put the first aid kit in my clothes bag and got another one for my battle clothes. After packing everything I grabbed a hairband, a pen and piece of paper and my phone before grabbing my bags and carrying them out to the lounge room. I dumped my bags and wrote a quick note to my landlady saying I’ll be gone for up to month and to hold my mail, leaving it on the kitchen shelf under one of my catnip pots. Then I sent a text to Chase telling him I’d be out of the country for a month and not to try contacting me. Then I quickly put my hair in pony tail.  
  
The SHIELD agent introduced himself as Agent Coulson and the soldier introduced himself as Steve Rodgers, the name was vaguely familiar. I went to grab my weapon bag when Steve picked it up, slinging it easily over his shoulder. I grabbed my other two before going over to the door and reaching up to grab my key from the sill. I opened the door and waited for the two men to exit my apartment before locking up and tossing the key into a flower pot on Asya, my landlady’s level for her safe keeping. I then followed the two men to a matte black SUV with the SHIELD insignia on it. Coulson told me to put my bags in the back and get in. I did, waiting for Steve to put my bag in then closed door. The inside of the car was alright; the seats were comfy and seemed to be made out of leather. Once in the car Coulson asked where I got my training. I had to laugh at that. Smiling to myself I replied “Lots of places; I’ve mostly had informal training, though I’m told I’m very good” My remark seemed to both slightly amuse Coulson and confuse him.                                                                                                                                                                           
“Where _exactly_ did you get your training?” He asked again, stressing exactly. Wouldn't he like to know, I thought   “Well; I got training from multiple soldiers in Egypt, some teachers in Israel, another teacher in Turkey, an experienced solider in Croatia, a warrior in Austria, a fencing teacher in Italy, a swordsman and expert fencer in France, and when I moved to America I observed many examples of self-defense and incorporated them into my fighting style. Is that exact enough?” I inquired after I listed places I had learnt to fight, though not exactly the time period; I girl's got to have some _secrets_. Both the men I was sharing the car with seemed shocked at my resume.  
   
Before anyone else could say anything the car we were in slowed down to a stop. Assuming that this was our stop I opened the door and got of the car. The others soon exited the car as well. I sighed when I saw the aircraft in front of us. Couldn’t they have driven us to they’re base? Only a couple of meters of was a militarian small jet. I notice that the tips of the wings were hinged so that the angle could change and the metal ramp was down.  The younger Agent opened the boot of the SUV and I went to grab my bags but the Agent had so already and was taking them onto the jet. Coulson walked up the ramp and onto the, me and Steve followed. The inside of jet was spartan, seats against the wall and rails hanging from the roof. Steve took a seat as Coulson went up to the front, apparently to talk to the pilot then sat down in the seat close to the cockpit when he was done; I sat on the opposite  side to Steve. He did some stuff on the built-in computer behind him. The jet took off and after awhile Coulson stood up and walked towards us. “We should arrive in half an hour” He told the both of us before handing each of us thin hand-held screens. They showed us records, files and clips of the people we would be working with.  
  
Currently it showed what happened to a man called Bruce Banner who was very intelligent scientist after he tried to replicate the Super Solider Serum. Suddenly I realized why Steve looked familiar, he was Captain America; the ‘Super Solider’ who helped win the war. “So this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum used on me?” Steve asked Agent Coulson. “All of people were, you were the world’s first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskens' original formula” Coulson explained. “Hmm, didn’t really work out that good, did it?” I remarked dryly, shaking my head sympathetically.   
“Not so much; when he’s not that thing though, guys like a Stephan Hawking” Agent Coulson commented. Steve looked up, confused. Seeing his expression I smiled and decided to help him out since he missed so much. “Stephan Hawking is a theoretical physicist, basically extremely intelligent and very good with maths” Steve nodded, looking back at the screen. Coulson took a step back “I gotta say it’s an honor to meet you” He says, almost gushing and obviously fangirling. “Officially. I sort of met you... I mean I watched you while you were sleeping” He continued. Steve was clearly trying not to feel awkward and I smirked inwardly.  “I mean I was present while you were unconscious, from the ice” Coulson added as he realized his social gaffe. Steve stood up to look out the cock pit window and Coulson followed and mimicked him as Steve leaned against the wall. “You know it’s really, it’s just a....just a huge honor having you on board” Coulson finished, appearing to be thoroughly embarrassed by the whole ordeal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
“I just hope I’m the man for the job” Steve confessed quietly.                                                                        
“Oh, you are. Absolutely” Coulson said confidently.  “Ah, we made some modifications to your uniform, I had a little design input” He said after a moment of silence. Steve looked at him, surprised. “The uniform?” He asked startled. “Aren’t the stars and stripes a little...old fashioned” He continued, pausing a bit to find the right word. “Everything that’s happening and things about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned” Coulson reasoned logically, making me wonder what was going 'to come to light'. I watched on in interest. The rest of the ride was relatively quiet, me and Steve looking at the small screens and Steve asking occasional questions when he didn’t understand something. After awhile we were informed that we would be landing within a few minutes and I realized why we had to fly. Apparently S.H.I.E.L.Ds current Headquarters was a large aircraft carrier. There were lots of small jets and many people were rushing around. The jet landed gently and Coulson told us that our bags would be taken to our rooms and we followed him down the ramp and off the plane. We were met by a young woman with short dark red hair in pants, a red shirt, and a black leather jacket and gun holster. “Agent Romanoff; Captain Rodgers and Nala Halzewood” Agent Coulson said, introducing us. Her last name sounded Russian and I wondered how long if she has been in America and if she was born here or not. “Ma’am” Steve greeted the woman and she returned the favor by saying “Hi”  
I greeted her by saying “Agent”, she nodded in acknowledgment before turning to Coulson. “We need you on the bridge; we’re starting the face-trace” He nodded, walked off after saying “I’ll see you later”  
  
Agent Romanoff looked us over.  “It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice, I thought Coulson was gonna swoon” She remarked dryly as we followed her past  some jets. "Does he do that often, swoon that is?" I asked rhetorically, an amused smile on my face.  Romanoff seemed to have a similar sense of humor as she looked to be fighting a smile of her own. “Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?” She asked, glancing at him and then me. “I assume you’ve been filled in about who he is?” She asked me, sounding honestly curious. I shook my head “I was a nurse during World War 2, the patients would talk about ‘Captain Amercia’ and rumors got around that he went behind enemy lines and rescued lots of POWs, I didn’t realize Rodgers here was _that_ Captain America” I explained, smirking slightly as I remembered how ridiculous some of the rumors got. “They have trading cards?” Steve’s shocked voice grounded me in the present.  “They’re vintage, he’s very proud” Agent Romanoff said, clearly amused by the topic. I smirked to myself, this was turning out to be rather fun. Then Romanoff turned to me “Where were you stationed?” She asked.                                                        
“Near Lille, we didn’t get a lot of artillery but the wounded were often set to us once they could be moved” I answered. She nodded, probably filing the information away so it could be added to my file, I wondered how thick it was now. Ahead of us was a man in his mid-forties was standing around nervously and I recognized him as Doctor Bruce Banner. Apparently so did Steve because he called out “Doctor Banner”. The doctor turned and seeing us walked over to us. Steve held out his hand which Banner shook.  “Ah, yeah, hi. They told me you’d be coming” He said to Steve. Then he noticed me “I’m sorry, I’m Bruce Banner” He introduced himself, he sounded quite uncomfortable. I wondered if it amount of people or tense circumstances“Nala Halzewood” I returned smiling.  
  
“Word is you can find the cube” Steve commented. Banner looked around somewhat awkwardly.                               
“Is that the only word on me?” He asked hesitantly.  
“The only word I care about” Steve answered with conviction.  
“Ditto” I said smiling slight as I around, taking in all the water. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, but I sternly reminded myself that I had been in a 18 th century slaver’s boat for over a year and survived, I would be fine here. Anyway I would probably be only here for less then a month. I glanced at Steve and seeing his expression I explained that ditto meant I agree. Banner looked around at the jets. “This must be strange, all of this” He said indicating our surroundings, clearly trying to make small talk. “Well, this is actually kind of familiar” Steve replied, putting his hands in his pockets.  Banner nodded, he probably knew that Steve was Captain America  and had military backgrounds. Agent Romanoff had slowed down to let us talk among ourselves. “Gentlemen, Miss Halzewood; you may want to step inside in a minute. It’s gonna get hard to breath” She announced, a small smile on her face.  Before I could ponder the meaning behind her words, a loud beeping became audible as well as the sound of machine parts moving. All aside from Romanoff looked around at was happening. “Flight crew secure the deck” A male voice commanded over the PA system. “Is this a submarine?” Steve asked stunned. I considered the possibility, if it was the air crafts would have to be waterproof and I doubted that they were, also I was fiercely hoping that it wasn't. Curious, I followed the boys as hey wondered closer to the edge of the aircraft carrier. “Really, they want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container” Banner remarked with bitter amusement. As we walked closer to the edge the sea water spray hit our faces,. Looking over to the lip I notice that some water was draining into an area that could easily hold a family-size car. After a couple of minutes it became evident that it was a big rotor. 


	3. Loki

Suddenly I realized that this thing flew. I looked along the hull of the ship, looking for another rotor. Soon the huge aircraft carrier rose from the water and I could see the water flowing off the hull and falling back into the ocean. Banner seemed have come to the same conclusion I had “Oh, this is much better” He said sarcastically. I smiled inwardly, with his condition he probably disliked being in the air, but personally I thought it was preferable then being underwater. Agent Romanoff led us toward a door. Once we walked inside the small room I noticed that it was a high- tech airlock, we walked forward and entered a much bigger room. An entire wall was a glass window and Director Fury stood in the middle, facing the window in his usual attire of black, with multiple screens on either side of him. There was a decent sized circular table behind Fury’s command center with lots of seats and behind that there a big S.H.I.E.L.D emblem. There were also lots of computers and people using them in the front half of the room. “We’re at level sir” I heard a feminine voice say. “Good, lets vanish” Fury said, his voice clear and commanding. I realized that he was on his home turf and while I had gotten away with giving him cheek before he probably wasn’t going to take it here; not that I wouldn’t try; I wouldn't be me if I didn't.“Engage reflection panels” The same person called loudly. Two men in S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms began doing stuff. “Reflections panels engaged” Reported a man to the far right. Fury turned around to face us and walked closer. “Gentlemen, Miss Halzewood” He greeted formally. Soon he was standing just in front of the table.  
  
Steve walked forward, pausing just long enough to hand the Director a ten dollar note. Fury smirked slightly and put the note in his pocket. I stiffed a laugh; gathering that Steve must have made some sort of bet with the Director. Steve continued to walk forward, obviously completely stunned by the advancement of technology. A woman in a black form-fitting jumpsuit with her hair in a bun who had moved to monitor the data on one of the screens looked at perplexed at what he was doing. As Steve, completely ignorant of the woman, went over to the massive window to (I assumed) take in the view; I lent against the wall, watching the interaction between Fury and Banner.  
“Doctor, thank you for coming” The Director said greeting the man, holding out his hand for Banner to shake which he did. Seemingly he noticed the man's reluctance. “Thanks for asking nicely” Banner said, clearly not wanting to be here. “So, uhm; how long am I staying?” He asked.  
“Once we get the Tesseract, you’re in the wind” Fury answered.  
“Where are you with that?” The Doctor asked as he moved over to the railings. I pushed off from the wall and followed Banner, interested how the hunt for this cube was going. On the level below us Agent Coulson was standing near some computers with arms crossed, seemingly supervising the other agents. “We’re sweeping every wireless accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops...if it’s connected to a satellite, its eyes and ears for us” He explained.  
  
 I noticed that Steve had moved so he was only a couple of feet away from Coulson and Agent Romanoff was crouching next to a screen with a man’s face on it. “That’s still not gonna find them in time” She stated. I noted her use of ‘them’; while I knew Loki had help, I wondered if there was a connection between the man on the screen and her use of ‘them’.  Her face gave nothing away, but I assumed she was trained in keeping her emotions in check. Banner interrupted my thoughts by commenting “You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?” He asked the Director  
“How many are there?” Fury returned, crossing his arms and leaning against the railing.  Banner began taking off his jacket. “Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I’ll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places” He told Coulson as he folded his jacket up. “Do you have somewhere for me to work?” He asked, directing his question to the Director. “Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr Banner to his laboratory, please?” Fury requested the red-haired S.H.E.I.L.D agent. She nodded and led Banner from the room. “You’re gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys” She told Doctor smiling. Once they had left Coulson asked if we wanted to see our rooms and I said yes, thinking that some of my weapons could with some sharpening. I was led down many corridors until we arrived at a door with the number 684 on it. Coulson handed me a card with my name on it and showed me how to unlock the door. Once he had opened the door I stepped inside the room I would inhabit while I was here.  
  
It was about the same size as my one in my apartment, the bed was next to the wall furthest from the door and on the other side were drawers. My bags were all on the bed. I thanked Coulson and closed the door, moved my bags onto the floor and started to put my clothes away. Once that was done I got my first aid kit and put it under my bed then opened my weapons bag and got my sharpening stone and went through all my daggers, knives, throwing knives and stars. I was just starting on my scimitar when Agent Romanoff opened the door and said “We found Loki, you and Rogers are up”  
I blinked then asked “Is he by himself or does he have back-up?” She shook her head.  
“We’re almost certain it’s just him” I nodded and changed into a pair of thick black jeans, a clean t-shirt and a black leather jacket, and then I started putting on my weapons sheaths. After a moment of thinking I decided that three would be adequate, one that went on my back for my scimitar that I deemed sharp enough, a belt for my twin long daggers and finally one on my thigh for a set of throwing knives. Once I had slid each weapon into each sheath I stood up to see Romanoff with something that looked like a mix of surprise and respect on her face. I followed her back to the room with the big table. Fury was there with Steve who was in his suit. It looked similar to the one I had seen in propaganda posters during WW2 but it was more practical and looked like it might actually stop a knife, even a bullet. He also had a circular shield painted in the colors of the American flag. Apparently, the rumors hadn't lied about how much of a patriot he was. I certainly wouldn't wear my country's symbol on my clothes.  
  
We were told what we were supposed to do and taken to a jet. Once we had boarded Agent Romanoff announced that she would be piloting with another S.H.I.E.L.D agent. I sat down in the nearest seat and took out my hair and then began tightly braiding my long hair, readying myself for a fight. By the time I was done the braid hung down to my lower back. The flight to Stuttgart Germany, where Loki had been sighted, took about five hours; four of which I slept through. When I woke up it was dark outside awhile after Agent Romanoff informed us we would be arriving at our destination within a few minutes. Soon I could see four identical raven-haired men twice the height of humans wearing what I assumed to be Asgardian battle clothes, his attire was mainly green and black he was holding a long golden spear that glowed blue at the point. I knew that Loki could create illusions so I assumed that he had made clones of himself and they weren't actually physical beings. I noticed that the Asgardian had herded some civilians into a circle and they were all kneeling. Then I saw an old man stand up and face the black-haired man who was walking through the crowd, the real one. We were close enough for my enhanced hearing to pick up the conversation. “Not to men like you” The older man said defiantly with. Loki appeared to be rather amused by that comment and replied “There are no men like me” With the tired air of someone who had lived through a war the man said”There are always people like you” The god smiled cruelly and I knew what his next move would be.  
  
“Lower the ramp. Loki’s going to kill the old guy” I said the Agent Romanoff. She nodded and pushed a button, lowering the metal ramp. “Look to your elder, people” I heard the Norse god of mischief say, raising his golden spear. We were close enough to the ground that Steve could jump down and survive the fall. He grabbed his shield; before he went to jump out of the jet I called “Rogers. There's only one real Loki, the rest are holograms- images, they can’t hurt you” He nodded and jumped, once he was clear I followed. Before I landed Loki ended his spiel by saying “Let him be an example” and then fired a blue energy ball, aiming for the old man. Steve landed about a meter in front of the man and the ball of energy bounced off Steve’s blue and red shield and collided with the Asgardain, knocking him off his feet; the clones disappeared when the ball smashed into him. I landed in a crouch a couple of seconds after Steve straightened up. As I stood up I drew out a scimitar from the scabbard on my back. Loki slowly got to his feet and Steve walked up to him, past all the still kneeling masses. “You know, the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing” He said seriously. This really angered Loki and I decided to piss him off even more. Smiling coyly, I spun my scimitar in my hand “Lets not disagree” I said softly, picking my way closer; my smile widened enough to show teeth. “The solider” Loki hissed loathing. He barely spared me a glance; oh well, he’d learn not to underestimate me soon enough. I noticed that some people had begun standing up.  
  
The Norse god of mischief chuckled darkly “The man out of time” He said smirking.  
“I’m not the one out of time” Steve shot back; I could hear the jet coming closer. Loki acted as if he hadn’t spoken “And you must be one of S.H.E.I.L.Ds pets” He drawled, still smiling. The word 'pet' made my hackles rise, if he wanted to severely piss me off and make me kill him he was going about it the right way. “I’m no one’s pet” I snarled savagely, moving closer; struggling to check my anger “Loki, drop the weapon and stand down” Agent Romanoff ordered over the PA system. Loki immediately shot another blue ball at the jet and Romanoff moved just in time to avoid it. Instantly Steve hurled his shield at Loki who dodged it, Steve grabbed it as it curved back and punched the black-haired in the jaw with his free hand. The civilians had scattered and I told them to leave the area. Loki struck Steve with his spear who blocked with his shield and then Loki hit Steve with the butt of his spear. Steve fell to the ground heavily; I could tell that he would need a second or two to recover, ones I intended to give him. I lunged aggressively at Loki, attempting to strike him but he blocked it quickly, the blade of my scimitar sliding off his spear. I darted to the left, meaning to get under his guard but he guessed what I was planning and swiped at me with his spear that I just dodged. I feinted an upward strike, then got closer trying to slash his back but Loki spun around quickly; I snarled in frustration.  
  
Apparently Steve had been paying attention and smashed him in the shoulder with his shield. The Asgardain stepped back before thrusting the butt of his spear into Steve’s stomach then slammed the spear tip into mine and I stumbled, gasping for air and holding my stomach, the leather of my jacket had stopped any perforation but I could feel a bruise forming. My abilities kicked in and my heart rate increased immediately, my blood pumping faster through my body and my lungs absorbing oxygen more efficiently; helping me heal and recover rapidly. I closed my eyes and slowed the process of changing, stopping my muscles from compacting. Steve crashed against the ground; Loki ignored me for the moment and pressed the butt of his spear to Steve’s head. “Kneel” Loki hissed lowly. Steve was breathing heavily “Not to today” He snapped and slapped the spear off his head, taking Loki by surprise. I decided that if couldn't get through his guard with my scimitar I would try close quarters with my daggers.  
  
I quietly laid down my scimitar and drew out one of my long daggers silently as Steve jumped up and launched a roundhouse kick to the Asgardian’s chest. Loki stumbled back and Steve bent down, thinking the god was done but Loki grabbed Steve’s shoulder and pushed him away. I ran over, dagger by my side, intending to stab him but he saw me coming and moved in time to dodge my attack. The Asgardaian kicked me in the ribs and I gasped at the pain from my ribs cracking as I fell down. My back hit the ground first and it to me a second to comprehend that I had dropped my dagger in the fall and Loki had the butt of his spear pressed against my throat, restricting my breathing. “Trouble controlling your temper” He said, referring to me not heeding to the rules of warfare-not letting emotions rule my head. Tilting his head he asked a question that made me feel like shifting and ripping him to pieces,“ Why do you fight me when you are clearly superior to them?”He sounded like a plantation owner or a slaver, I was not superior. One person couldn't be superior to a group.  I grabbed the spear and yanked it out of his hand, using it to stand up then punched the Norse god of mischief in the solar plexus as hard as I could, the predator raising to the surface; my actions becoming more instinctive and fiercer.  I kicked Loki as hard as I could between the legs and he buckled from the pain. I became conscious of heavy rock music; after a second I recognized the band, AC/DC. That brought me out of my rage, Loki's comment foremost in my mind. What did he mean 'clearly superior', was it to my apparent inhuman abilities or had he noticed some sign of their origin. Before I let it distract me from the matter at hand I pushed the train of thought away, I would analyze it later.


	4. Unexpected Guests

I tilted my head to discern where the music was coming from, if it was another player I wanted to know for which side. It was becoming louder quite quickly so the source was close by. Loki went to attack me again but was blasted by a red and gold metal man; who I quickly I identified as Iron Man or Anthony Stark, the son of Howard Stark. Anthony looked startlingly like his father, but unfortunately I heard he didn't have the better aspects of his personality.  I could only assume he wasn't on Loki's side, which suggested he was an ally. He landed loudly with a metallic clank and aimed what I assumed to be rockets at Loki. “Make your move Reindeer Games” Stark said as Steve joined him.  I glanced at the Norse god’s helmet; it didn’t resemble reindeer antlers but antelope ones if anything and guessed Stark was referencing the movie. Loki stared resentfully at Stark but his amour and helmet disappeared to reveal what I figured was casual Asgardain clothes and put the spear down, which had become a lot smaller. Slowly he raised his hands in defeat and Stark lowered his weapons. “Good move” He commented. Deciding that the boys could deal with Loki for awhile I collected my scimitar and dagger from where they lay on the ground and returned.  “Mr Stark” Steve said curtly as he recovered his breath.  
  
“Captain” Stark replied just as tersely. I spent a second trying to figure out they were acting so unpleasant, but put it down to their clashing natures  and slid my scimitar back in place. Stark look at me for a bit which I ignored, most men stared at me. “Who’s the Amazon” Stark asked. I scoffed as Agent Romanoff landed the jet and I yanked Loki’s hands behind his back, I hadn’t noticed but during the fight Loki must have gotten shorter because now he was just taller than me “My ethnicity is African and the Amazons didn’t really exist” I snapped, I looked nothing like what the Amazons were supposed to look like; I had both breasts, which contradicted the popular stereotype. I shoved Loki forward “Walk into the jet. Co-operate or I’ll hold you at knife point” I snarled, my anger at the god remembered. Loki obeyed and walked into the jet; the other S.H.E.I.L.D agent hurried over and handcuffed the Asgardian. Exhaling I turned around to face Stark “Nala Halzewood, I’d say its pleasure to meet you but its not” I saw that Steve had picked Loki’s weapon up and was following us back into the jet. Stark’s face plate slid down “I’m offended” Stark said, though contrary to his words he didn’t sound offended. “Good for you” I replied, not in the mood to deal with the man after the fight.  
  
Once in the jet the S.H.E.I.L.D agent told to sit in a seat and once he had done the agent secured the harness. I sat down a seat away as far away from the Norse god as I could and Steve and Stark took a seat on the other side.  I closed my eyes and focused on calming my breathing down, separating my anger from my body. We took off and after we had leveled out Stark and Steve stood up. Loki hadn’t said a word since Stark had arrived on the scene, just staring at the hull of the jet and his stony silence was making me think why he let himself be handcuffed so meekly after the fight he had put up.  I could hear Agent Romanoff speaking to Director Fury as Steve who had taken his cowl off and Stark were watching the Asgardain carefully. “He saying anything?” Fury asked over the radio.  I opened my eyes slightly to watch the situation. “Not a word” Romanoff replied in a voice that made me wonder if she was thinking something similar. “Just get him here, we’re low on time” Fury ordered before  I heard Agent Romanoff close the line.  
  
 Steve turned so that his back was Loki, doing so that the god couldn’t read his lips as he spoke quietly to Stark “I don’t like it”  
“What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?” Stark asked, apparently not suspicious of Loki’s actions despite him being the Norse god of mischief. “I don’t remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop” Steve said, not commenting on Stark’s nickname for Loki. “Still you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What’s your thing? Pilates?” Stark said, completely missing Steve’s point and changing the topic.  I sighed at his childish actions. Loki seemed to be taking interest in their conversation but they hadn’t noticed. Steve turned his head to look at Stark “What?” He asked, clearly confused by his statement and annoyed that the man wasn’t taking this seriously. “It’s like calisthenics.  You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle” Stark continued conversationally. It was evident that Stark’s offhand manner rubbed Steve the wrong way. “Fury didn’t tell me he was calling you in” Steve remarked pointedly. “Yeah, there’s a lot of things he doesn’t tell you” Stark said callously. Thunder and lightning became audible. “Where’s this coming from?” Steve asked urgently. Loki seemed rather wary.  
  
“What’s the matter? Scared of a little lightning?” I asked slightly scornful; he was supposed to be a god, he should be able to stand a little electrocution and live- though it was becoming rapidly more intense “I’m not overly fond of what follows” Loki answered plainly not looking forward to what he expected to happen. He was scared of thunder? Before I could figure out what he meant something slammed onto the roof of the jet. We all tensed, then Stark put his helmet back on and walked up to the ramp which he lowered. I growled under my breath at his actions, he couldn't consulate the rest of us before acting.  
  
 A guy with blonde hair and a long red cape that marginally resembled that drapes flew in and landed with a clank. He was wielding an old-fashioned stone hammer which he threw at Stark, making him fly backwards and crashing into Steve. He ripped Loki from his seat and holding the black-haired male by his throat left the jet, his hammer returning to his hand. Stark stood up, followed by Steve. “Now there’s that guy” Stark muttered peevishly as he walked toward the open ramp. “Another Asgardain?” Agent Romanoff asked from the cockpit. I put two and two together and worked out that the blonde was Loki’s adopted brother, Thor. Which explained the thunder and lightning as Thor was the Norse god of thunder. “Think the guy’s a friendly?” Steve asked as he hurriedly put his cowl back on. “Doesn’t matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseracts lost” Stark said turning around before going back to the ramp and paused as Steve called out “Stark, we need a plan of attack” Stark’s response was short and somewhat cocky. “I have a plan, attack” he said before flying out of the jet. Steve sighed, exasperated with Stark, and grabbed a parachute. “I’d sit this one out, Cap” Romanoff advised. I exhaled and checked all my weapons would fall out, seeing the inevitable and looked out the window to estimate the altitude. Though it seemed pretty far down, I very much doubted I’d die if I hit the ground.  
  
“I don’t see how I can” Steve said, putting on the parachute.  
“These guys come from legend, they’re basically Gods” Agent Romanoff cautioned Steve as he tightened the harness of his parachute and grabbed his shield from where it was leaned against a pole. “There’s only one God ma’am. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that” Steve said, jumping out of the jet. “They’re not gods; they’re powerful beings that were worshiped as god-like beings up until the end of the 11th century. Andes there’s never been any proof there’s actual gods, whether the pantheons of different religions to singular creation gods” I ranted to myself; ignoring my own religious practices, as small as they were; before pausing. “I’ll keep an eye on Loki and make sure they don’t kill each other” I told Romanoff before jumping out, letting myself free-fall. After a minute I began slowing my decent and grabbed a nearby tree branch. Ignoring the strain on my shoulder I swung myself up onto the branch. I concentrated on listening for Loki’s arrogant voice, filtering out the nighttime noises. I could see a flash of gold and red in a clearing not far away. I focused in on the area and that it was Stark fighting and insulating the Norse god of thunder, Thor. I rolled my eyes, they couldn’t have had a civilized conversation instead; because I doubted that Thor was happy with Loki either. I thought humans were supposed to have become more logical and inclined to talk things through since the last world war. I scanned the surrounding area and found the Asgardain watching the brawl, clearly delighted by the current events, on the edge of a rocky outcrop. Taking advantage of his diverted attention I crept up on him. Once I was within striking distance I whipped my dagger out and held it against Loki’s throat. “Don’t move” I said quietly. I could see why Loki had stayed, from here one had an almost perfect view of the fight going on below and Loki seemed to take a grim pleasure in seeing it. “Is it not amusing to see my brother brawling like a drunkard?” He asked the hatred and jealously he had for his brother clear in his voice. So he had daddy issues, so what; we all did, it gave him no reason to invade a planet. “Shut up asshole, or I’ll put this through your arm” I said still pissed at him and not bothering to censure myself.  
  
Then Steve emerged from the tree line and stood on a tree trunk that was sticking up, I assumed it had been knocked down in the fight. He threw the shield in front of their faces. “That’s enough” He yelled, most likely annoyed at the two’s childish fighting. He caught his shield,  jumped and continued talking. “Now, I don’t know what you plan on doing here” Loki was smiling and I moved my dagger so that it was between his shoulder blades, pushed him forward; guessing that they were done and we could go back to the jet. “I’ve come here to put an end to Loki’s schemes!” Thor said fiercely. “Then prove it. Put that hammer down” Steve said calmly, at least one person knew how to solve petty conflicts without fighting. “Uh...yep. No!  Bad call! He loves his hammer!” Tony warned, slightly alarmed. What was he talking about? Couldn't he talk sense?. The blonde Asgardain swung his arm back, knocking Stark backwards. “You me want me to put the hammer down?” Thor roared, jumping up and bringing down his hammer on Steve’s shield. When the hammer and shield connected sparks flew and the shock wave threw Thor and Stark backwards and all the trees in a miles radius fell over. Men, they always had to be so dramatic. I had to put a hand out to steady myself before making Loki keep walking. The smoke and dust cleared and they all got up, breathing heavily. “Are we done here?” Steve asked tiredly after a moments pause. It took some time to negotiate the difficult terrain to be able to reach the three men. “Are you two done throwing a tantrum?” I asked harshly as we got closer. They looked taken aback  by my prescence and I took the opportunity to say “Stark, can you communicate with Agent Romanoff” He nodded and radioed Romanoff, telling her to landed somewhere nearby. “Unhand my brother” Thor commanded, apparently chagrined at my treatment of his brother. I raised an eyebrow. “Loki is a war criminal. We have orders to take him to S.H.E.I.L.D., where he will be detained until we get the Tesseract. When we do you can take him back to your home” I told Thor. By that time Stark was done talking to the red headed agent and I remarked “I trust you can look after Loki until we get to the jet?” They all made various signs of agreement and I climbed a nearby tree to look for the jet.  
  
I could see the jet coming closer and landing not far off, so I jumped down. “I can see the jet, let’s go” I informed the men standing next to me as I started walking. I didn’t bother turning around to see if they were following but soon enough I could hear their footsteps not far behind. It only took about twenty minutes to reach the jet but Stark decided to fly the distance. As the rest of us got to the jet Stark said “Romanoff tells me you jumped out of the jet without a parachute” I nodded, not really in the mood to have this conversation. “So, I knew I would survive the fall. Worst case scenario, I’d take a couple minutes to heal, maybe five if I hit a sharp object. I am very hard to kill” I replied blandly, briefly thinking about the times people have tried. I caught my reflection in the window and frowned in distaste. There were twigs and leaves in my hair the tight braid was coming out. I sighed slightly and undid the braid, I finger-combed my hair, brushing the stuff out. Then I re-braided it loosely over my left shoulder. Though it would stop my hair getting in the way, the main purpose was to allow me to calm down, Loki had a knack for angering me and I didn't like it. I was used to being able to control my emotions, especially my anger. The rest of the flight to S.H.E.I.L.Ds headquarters was silent. S.H.E.I.L.D agents in blue uniform, bullet-proof vests and helmets were waiting when we landed. They handcuffed the Norse god of mischief and escorted him to a holding cell. We were told that we had to go to the room with the table which they called ‘the bridge’. Stark had gone to remove his suit but Doctor Banner was there when we got there as well as me, Steve, Agent Romanoff and Thor. The woman with her hair in a bun who I heard be called ‘Agent Hill’ was still in the room monitoring everything. Screens popped up on the surface of the table which displayed the footage from a camera of where Loki was being held.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still want to hear suggestions for a better title. I can't think of what to call this story.


	5. Helicarrier

Loki was standing in a squat cylinder made of metal and what looked to be glass that was in the middle of the room. Fury entered the room “In case it’s unclear. You try to escape; you so much as scratch that glass” He said as he turned to a control panel and pressed a button, the floor underneath Loki’s cell opened to reveal the sky below. “Thirty thousand feet, straight down in steel trap. You get how that works?” He continued before pressing the button again.  “Ant. Boot” The Director of S.H.E.I.L.D. finished, quit clearly referring to something. “It’s an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me” Loki remarked pointedly stepping back, a devious look on his face.  
“Built for something a lot stronger than you” Fury stated.  
“Oh, I’ve heard. The mindless beast, makes play to be the man.” Loki began maliciously and I glanced at Banner out of the corner of my eye., he seemed to be shaken but coping. “How desperate are you? You call on these lost creatures to defend you” Loki added spitefully. Though the blonde Asgardian’s face was guarded I could tell he was troubled by his brother’s words. “How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force a force you can’t hope to control” Fury said walking closer to the glass. “You talk about peace and you kill ‘cause its fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did” Fury said coldly.

  
“Ooh. It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is” Loki said vindictively.  
“Well let me know if real power whats a magazine or something” Fury said loudly, deadpanning; as he walked out of the room. The screens disappeared. “He really grows on you doesn’t he?” Banner asked rhetorically.  
“Loki’s gonna drag this out. So, Thor, whats his play” Steve asked levelly.  
“He has an army called the Chitauri, their not of Asgard nor any world know. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract” Thor explained gravely.  
“An army from outer space?” Steve asked dubiously. I shifted so that I was sitting cross-legged, unzipped my jacket and leaned on the table. “So he’s building another portal. That’s what he needs Erik Selvig for” Banner concluded.  
“Selvig?” Thor asked.  
“He’s an astrophysicist” Banner answered.  
“He’s a friend” Thor responded.  
“Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours” Agent Romanoff explained. I reasoned that the man that she was looking at earlier must be the agent was controlling and that she had some emotional connection with him.  I figured that Selvig was the scientist in charge of the Tesseract. “I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He’s not a leading an army from here” Steve said, bringing up the original topic from the jet. I nodded in agreement. “He gave up too easily, and he didn’t even try to get away when Thor and Stark were fighting” I mused.

  
“I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him” Banner said. “And pray tell, what does crazy smell like?” I inquired, half amused and half really interested. I had run into some insane people before, though I don't think any of them were crazy enough to take over them a different world. “Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he’s my brother” Thor reminded everyone as he stepped closer the table, I glanced over at him to watch his reaction. “He killed eighty people in two days” Romanoff informed Thor coolly.  
“He’s adopted” The blonde Asgardian added almost meekly, looking taken aback by the number of causalities.  
“I think it’s about the mechanics” Banner broke in.  
“Go on” I encouraged, intrigued about his theory.  
“Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?” Banner asked though he must have known none of us knew the answer, I didn't even know Iridium was.  
  
I could hear footsteps approaching; I was able to distinguish two separate sets and guessed it was Stark and another S.H.E.I.L.D agent. “It’s a stabilizing agent” Stark called out.  I turned around and saw that the billionaire was being accompanied by Agent Coulson. They walked toward the table and Stark randomly turned to Coulson. “Go on a weekend, I’ll fly you” He said quietly. What was he talking about?  
“Thank you” Coulson said, looking slightly embarrassed as he walked away.  
“Keep love alive” Commented Stark, was he giving dating advice to Agent Coulson? Him of all people? “Means the portal won’t collapse on itself like it did at S.H.E.I.D” Stark added as he headed over to Thor. “No hard feelings Point Break, you’ve gotta mean swing” He remarked before the Asgardain on the arm. I rolled my eyes, couldn’t be serious for once. “Stark, if you’re gonna monologue, at least stay on topic” I drawled, shaking my head. At least with Howard, he'd stay on topic. “Right. It also means that the portal can open as wide and stay open as Loki wants” He continued, going over to the screens that Fury was looking at earlier.  If Loki could keep the portal open he could get enough fighters to overwhelm us. “Raise the mise mast, jib the topsails” Now Stark was talking complete gibberish and I wondered if I should hit him in the head. “That man is playing Gallaga” He called loudly, pointing over to a blond man, who actually was playing Gallaga. “Thought we wouldn’t notice but we did” He commented. Then Stark put a hand over his left eye for a second “How does Fury even sees these things?” He asked no one in particular.  
  
“He turns” Agent Hill answered iceliy.  
“Sounds exhausting” Stark remarked as he spun around. He began doing things on the screens. I was wondering if I needed to remind him about the reason why we were here but he got back to the subject. “The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily” Stark said half to himself as he continued to fiddle with screens. “The only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy intensity” He said turning around to face the table. “Something to... kick start the cube” He finished, pausing slightly as if trying to find the right word. “When did you become an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics?” Agent Hill asked emotionlessly.  
“Well, last night” Stark replied. Hill raised an eyebrow to which Stark elaborated.  
“The packet, Selvig’s notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did all the reading?” He asked rhetorically. I glared at him, why did he have so annoying? “Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve asked, getting to the point. “He’d have to heat the cube to hundred and twenty million kelvin just to break the Coulomb barrier” Banner said. I had no idea what this ‘Coulomb barrier’ was but I guessed it was something to the Tesseract making portals. “Unless Selvigs figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect” Stark theorized, walking around the table and over to Banner. Whatever mind-control Loki was using could be able to help Selvig make the Tesseract work and that meant lots of trouble for us. “And I think we should assume that he has, he could have help” I broke, voicing my thoughts.  
  
 “Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any rector on the planet” Banner speculated, using lots of science jargon. “Finally someone who speaks English” Stark commented dramatically. I scoffed quietly, Stark just found someone who knows scientific terminology. “Is that what just happened?” Steve asked; quiet clearly confused. Banner and Stark shook hands. “It’s good to meet you” Stark greeted Doctor Banner. “Your work on Anti-electron collisions is unparallelled. Also I’m a huge fan of how you lose control and turn into a enormous green rage monster” Stark added, I almost thought that he might be capable of having a nice conversation until he said the part about Banner turning into the Hulk. “Thanks” Banner replied sounding uncomfortable.  I could hear Director Fury walk into the room. “Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube” He said, assumedly to clarify any questions about the issue. “I was hoping you might join him” He continued. I was very surprised, Fury was going to let Stark track the Tesseract.  “I’d start with that stick of his. May be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon” Steve put in. “I don’t know about that, but is powered by the Tesseract” Fury said. “And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys” He added, very angry at the Norse god. “Monkeys, I do not understand” Thor said, completely bewildered by the phrase.  
“I do” Steve burst out, happy to understand something. I smiled slightly. “I understood that reference” He elaborated. Stark rolled his eyes “Shall we play doctor?” Stark asked, directing it at Banner who nodded. “This way” He said motioning to the hall way behind him.  
  
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the young agent Stark had called out earlier had gone back to playing gallager. Looking at Fury I said “I’ll be in my room if I’m needed. Knock before you go in” I was rather relieved to return to my room where I changed into clean clothes and finished sharpening my weapons. Once that task had been completed I crossed my legs, took out my ank pendant and started murmuring Baset’s titles and her achievements in Ancient Egyptian. I liked to do this on a regular basis as a way to thank her and to meditate. It helped me control my anger and allowed me to dull my super heightened senses to the point of a normal human, muffling my ferocity and cope with all the stimuli. I was almost done when I felt the ship tilt dramatically. I put my hands out to steady myself, grabbed some weapons and opened the door. Just outside was a man in a black uniform similar to S.H.E.I.L.D’s, he was holding an automatic rifle and had a semi-automatic pistol on his belt. I kicked the rifle out of his hands, and he quickly grabbed his pistol, firing in rapid succession at me. I moved fast enough to avoid the bullets; I got in arms reach and stabbed him in the leg with a dagger. I fought my way to the Bridge, viciously incapacitating people on the way. When I got there a whole lot of computer screens were black and numerous agents were nursing wounds. I went up to Agent Hill who had a bleeding cut high on her forehead. “What happened” I demanded angrily.  
“Loki’s men attacked us and rook out two engines” She answered. My eyebrows rose, we were still in the air?  Then she put a hand to her earpiece. “Agent Coulson is down” I overheard, the voice sounded like Fury. I prepared myself to hear that he was dead, though underneath all the wall I had built between me and the world  I hoped  he was just seriously injured“A medical team is on the way to your location” Another voice said in response.    
  
“They’re here, they called it” Fury replied. I frowned, my jaw clenching and eyes narrowing in anger; out of all the S.H.E.I.L.D agents Coulson was becoming one of my favorites. I would mourn his death. I sat down in one of the chairs at the table, waiting for the others. We had been informed that Loki’s people had been able to free the Norse god of mischief and fled with the scepter. Agent Romanoff was in one of the medical bays keeping an eye on Agent Barton, who according to the Russian was back on our side. Stark and Steve were both getting out of their suits after fixing one of the damaged engines. Banner had fallen out of the Helicarrier not long after he had Hulked out. Thor had been tricked into entering Loki’s cell and the previous occupier made it plummet to the ground. Stark and Steve soon arrived, both quite clearly sad about the death of Agent Coulson. Fury entered the room, holding a small pile of cards in his hands; which he tossed on the table, as they scattered I could see that they were splattered with blood.  
  
“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket when he died, guess he never got you to sign them” He said gravely looking at Steve, who was staring at the cards. He picked one of the cards and looked at it, an unreadable expression on his face. Stark was avoiding Fury’s gaze and instead was looking down. “We’re dead in the air people, our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I’ve got nothing. Lost my one good eye, maybe I had that coming” Fury continued. “Yes we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, I was playing something even riskier... There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative.The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died, still believing in that idea, in heroes” Fury informed us solemnly. I figured that we were the remarkable people planned for the team.  
  
Stark stood up and stormed silently out of the room. “Well, it’s an old fashioned notion” Fury remarked quietly. I thought it would be productive to see if Agent Barton was able to fight, I was never one for giving up and I hoped the others weren't either; it would make finding Loki more difficult. After getting directions I quickly walked to where the two agents were. I opened the door and looked in. Agent Barton was lying down on a bed and Agent Romanoff was undoing the restraints tying him to the bed. “Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton” I said as a way of greeting.  Agent Romanoff turned around slightly.  “Clint this is Nala Hazlewood” She said to Agent Barton quietly. He nodded in acknowledgement. “So, did Loki tell you anything?”  I asked He shook his head. “Figured” I muttered. “Why?” Asked Barton, who actually sounded interested.  “Because he’s a prince of Asgard, most likely he had a basic understanding of strategy, for a god” I said.  “Have you had previous encounters with Loki?” Romanoff asked. “No. But I have met people like him, they think because they may be better than some people in certain areas they are superior. By the industrial revolution I was already tired of the senseless death caused by these sorts of people” I explained. Changing the subject, I said what come here to say “Do you think you’re healthy enough to take out multiple, very strong and extremely well trained agents?”  The two assassins raised their eyebrows.  “Loki has an army of unknown numbers, skill and strength. He has had many opportunities to judge our abilities, yet he still acts so arrogant, he clearly thinks he can easily win and I don’t like it” I elaborated, thinking how he had acted in the face of apparent defeat. Barton nodded. “Good, I wish you well with your recovery” I said and then left to see if anyone had figured where either Loki or the Tesseract was.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this short, it's sort of a prologue and from Steve's perspective, sorta. I didn't want to go too much further with this chapter otherwise the others probably wouldn't be interesting. So what did you think of it, I don't know if I got Steve right.


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